


Do Monsters Dream?

by bourgeois



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Interspecies Sex, M/M, Oral Sex, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 10:32:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13362780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bourgeois/pseuds/bourgeois
Summary: “The project’s on a need to know basis,” Amanda says, “and us lowly janitors aren’t need to know, apparently. All I know is, whatever it is, it’s big.”Sonny hums and looks back up at the tank. Whatever it is it’s big indeed.-AThe Shape of WaterAU





	Do Monsters Dream?

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve declared 2018 the Year of Writing Self-Indulgently. I finished [Want and Able](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11873073/chapters/26809677)’s second chapter after 84 years, then finished this sucker in a day and a half while waiting for my beta to give it back (expect that chapter by Monday). Thank you to everyone who commented! This is also the year of not swallowing my shyness and replying back to comments, so don't be alarmed if you get a reply months after the fact.
> 
>  
> 
> It took me a while to get my smut-writing groove back, but once I did I decided “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Sonny fucked a fish?” Hence this.
> 
> This is very, very, very loosely based on _The Shape of Water_. You don’t need to have watched the movie to read this fic.

“Clock in is supposed to start at eight, but really you can do whatever you want. So long as the area gets clean before the morning crew gets here at six I don't really give a damn.”

Custodial Supervisor Amanda Rollins is short and blonde with a sweet southern accent Sonny can't quite place the origin of. She barely meets his chin in her thick work boots, but he still feels as if she's looking down at him. 

She hands him the keycard to the access the floor. He pins it on the lanyard so that it covers his ID. He’d blinked when the admin took his photo. They hadn't let him take another. 

“Your job is simple.” Amanda starts walking and doesn't look back. Sonny rushes to catch up with her with his mop and bucket hitting his heels in haste. “You get here at nine, clean the floors and bathrooms and wipe down the displays—you’ll need a ladder for the taller ones, I'll show you where that is. You can also clear out the old food in the employee break room if you have time because lord knows no one else will.” 

Tanks line the room filled with exotic fish Sonny has never seen before. Hanover Industries specializes in genetically modifying aquatic wildlife, which Sonny only found out after he applied for the job. To build a better future, the application website had said. He doesn't know what kind of future needs a catfish eight feet tall, but he supposes that's why those people are scientists and he's not. 

They pass particular large tank that appears to be empty, and Sonny stops to squint out what could possibly be that big and not be seen.  
“That display isn't up yet,” Amanda says, startling him. “They shut the whole floor down to accommodate it. Took six months to engineer that tank with the right bio medium. From what Dodds told me they were given out overtime like candy.”

He raises his eyebrows questioningly. What is it? 

Whether consciously or not, she picks up on the question. “The project’s a need to know basis,” Amanda says, “and us lowly janitors don't need to know, apparently. All I know is whatever it is, it's big.”

Sonny hums and looks back up at the tank. Whatever it is it's big indeed. 

The tickle at the back of his neck tells him he's being stared at. He turns to see her eyes narrowed at him, studying. He shifts in his feet and tightens the mop handle between his hands and waits for the inevitable question. 

Instead, she only shrugs. “Not much of a talker, huh? Good. I like that in an employee.”

**— — — — —**

Before this lifetime, Sonny lived in another. 

He was an SVU detective in Manhattan. But before that, he had been a Homicide detective in Brooklyn, and before that, a Vice detective in Staten Island. He took night classes at Fordham in the Bronx because he maybe wanted to do something with that someday. He had carved out temporary homes in all five boroughs. He would never have guessed his five-borough tour ended with Hanover Industries in Queens. 

He was a Staten Island boy through and through, but Manhattan had felt more like home than anywhere else ever had. The squad treated him like family, he did his job and did it well, and the gyro man at the bodega outside the courthouse always slipped him a free coffee on his way out. 

Until.

Until Sgt. Cole put a gun to his head, and Sonny lost his damn mind. 

He stopped speaking. The grim-faced department psychologist had called it trauma-induced selective mutism. IAB had called it a reason for his early retirement. Sonny didn't call it anything because he fucking couldn't. 

He'd tried to push past it, with therapy and pills and whatever new age-y bullshit his sister Gina pushed on him. Nothing worked. The force didn't want back what was broken, but Sonny didn't know how to do anything else. 

He tried being a rent-a-cop. Every mall in New York was eager to get their hands on an ex-cop. That ended quickly when some chump pulled a gun on a jewelry bodega and Sonny froze. The guy got away with seventy-three bucks, and Sonny got the boot again. 

He stopped being choosy after that, which is how he ended up a janitor at a high tech facility. A cog in a machine. It was a living and, as Sonny had to remind himself, that was the best he could do for right now. 

**— — — — —**

The day the big project comes in Sonny sees it on the news first. 

MERMAN CAPTURED IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA the news scroll bellows. The anchor is chatting with a tall brunette who Sonny vaguely recognizes from pictures in the entrance wall. The scroll identifies her as Olivia Benson, Chief Exploration Officer and Biological Engineer, Hanover Industries.

“This is the first discovery of its kind in known history,” Olivia Benson says. Her face is professional and serious, but there's a current of excitement in her words. “

“How did your scientists make this remarkable discovery?”

“Unfortunately that information is classified pending further exploration, but I can tell you it was no easy feat. Or crew was dedicated and prepared for every possible outcome.”

A video of a truck with the Hanover Industries logo plays across the screen. That’s where the merman is, Sonny thinks. The video cut back to the anchor and Olivia. 

“Do you think there are more mermaids out there?” the anchor asks.

“While there is a chance that there are more lifeforms like this one out there, for the purpose of examination, we are treating it as a singular life form.”  
“Will you announce your findings?”

“In due time.”

“Well, Ms. Benson, it would appear this particular case is hush-hush. Is there anything you can tell us about this fantastic creature?”  
Olivia looks into the camera and smiles. “We've named him Rafael.”

**— — — — —**

Being a nighttime janitor, Sonny finds, is just like being a nighttime security guard, except with less dignity and more things to do.  
The having more things to do isn’t so bad. Back when he was working security at the Staten Island Mall there had been too much quiet—too many opportunities to get lost his thoughts. The silver lining to cleaning toilets and mopping floors was there wasn’t time to think about anything but cleaning toilets and mopping floors.

He also finds he doesn't mind wiping down the tanks. During the day, when the display floor is open to visitors, there are rules about keeping away from tanks. The rules are meant mostly to keep children from tapping on the glass and agitating the specimen—something that happens anyway, given the fingerprint smudges he buffers off with a rag. Most of the fish sleep at night, but if Sonny is lucky he’ll catch a glimpse of something otherworldly.

The only part of cleaning the tanks he doesn’t enjoy is reaching the top. Further up top, the tanks are more dusty than dirty, and even though no one can actually see the dust Amanda still insists they be cleaned. _“It’s my ass or yours, and it won’t be mine,”_ she’d said.

The new ladder they got is big enough to comfortably reach the top of everyone except the new tank. The merman tank. Tonight is the first night Sonny will have to clean it with the creature actually inside, so he diligently cleans the others and saves that one for last. 

It’s not that he’s _afraid_ of the thing, but he feels nervous when buffering the bottom and he looks up and can’t see it. There are enough places for it to hide in here: there’s a large black cave in the corner and thick plants swaying in the water disturbed by the bubbling filter at the top. He hasn’t had a chance to see it, but from what the day crew says Hanover shelled out a bunch of money for nothing; the thing hardly ever shows.

The ladder is tall but nowhere near tall enough to reach the top of the tank, but it’s close enough that he can stretch for it. He steps as tall as possible and scrubs at the dust collecting there. His arm begins to ache before he’s even halfway around to the front. He silently curses and seriously considers just not doing it and seeing if anyone actually notices.

That's when he spots it. 

A pair of flickering lights in the shadow of rock cave. At first glance, Sonny might have dismissed it as the overhead lights bouncing off the colorful rocks at the bottom of the tank, but then he sees that they’re _blinking_. 

He freezes with his arm stretched high above his head. It's the thing, the merman. The industry gave it a name but Sonny can’t remember it right now. He can’t think of anything but how it’s staring at him. Apprehension wraps his fingers around his shoulders and squeezes.  
The thing can't hurt you, he tells himself. This glass is virtually bulletproof. 

Swallowing down something he won’t call fear, he ignores the company and keeps wiping. The lights are still following him, and by now he's wiped down the same spot what has to be a hundred times. Every time he glances down he sees it in the same place, its body shrouded in shadows save for bright, blinking green. 

Figuring that’s enough to keep Amanda happy, Sonny pockets the rag and begins to climb down. He doesn't even get to more than a rung before a mass shoots out from the depths and bangs against the glass. 

It's the god-awful vibrating sound the glass makes more than the jumpscare than causes him to yelp and let go. He bangs and slides against the ladder as he scrambles for purchase, heart fully in his throat. The handle of the ladder bites into his palms as he grips it tight, halting his descent. For a second the only thing he can hear his blood rushing in his ears and his own panicked breathing. When his vision un-tunnels and he's more annoyed than afraid, he HEARS something else—a sound akin to diamonds falling against stone.

He looks up in time to see the massive, green tail of the creature slip back inside the cave. Flashing light eyes zero in on him again. From inside the cave, the sound is amplified. Awed, it dawns on him what it is.

The thing is laughing at him. 

**— — — — —**

With the arrival of Rafael boosting attendance Hanover decides to extend display room hours by one hour. It used to close when Sonny started work, but now he's forced to deal with crowds and yelling kids. The daytime staff is already sick of it all by the time he arrives. He pretends not to notice the way they hang back and let him deal with spills and requests for toilet paper refills.

He’s mopping up what he hopes is ice cream when a finger jabs into his shoulder incessantly. He turns to see a large, red-faced man glowering at him.  
“Excuse me,” the man spits,” my daughter just slipped on your fucking mop water.”

Sonny glances at the Wet Floor sign and back at the man. He hunches his shoulders and tilts his head down in the universal sign of apology, but the guy only crowds further into his space.

“She’s only six years old! She could have broken her neck out here for Christ’s sake! Are you an idiot?”

A small crowd of people is starting to take notice. The back of his neck burns with embarrassment as he tries to relay to the man how sorry he is while tamping down his own anger and annoyance. 

The guy takes another threatening step into his space. His red forehead has creased to nothing as he jabs his finger into Sonny’s shoulder again.  
“Do you not hear me talking to you—”

A loud _bang_ shakes the room and elicits screams from the children around. The man shouts and stumbles back, falling flat on his back on the slippery floor. The children squeal and run away. The adults gasp and begin to murmur all at once, horrified and awed.

Sonny looks at the tank just in time to see a massive dark green tail flick and disappear into the rock cave. Those same bright light eyes blink in the darkness before disappearing as well, leaving the tank looking as empty as before.

“Everything’s fine, folks,” Nick the security guard yells over the chatter of the alarmed crowd. “Rafael just likes to have a little fun every now and then. But let’s step back and give him some room, yeah?”

The crowd quickly disperses to other tanks, but the chatter doesn’t die down. Sonny stays standing, stunned stupid and wonderstruck. 

It would be silly to think the thing did it for him. 

It’s testy and unpredictable. It’s caged and agitated. It did the same thing to Sonny not three nights ago. 

Of course it didn’t do it for him.

That doesn’t stop him from smiling.

**— — — — —**

It’s a month after Rafael arrives that Sonny decides to speak to it.

‘Speak’ is maybe a strong word. Sonny can speak, but it’s not a constant thing. Even if he could, he doesn’t know that the thing would understand him. He knows sign language, but the chances of a hereto unknown creature knowing American Sign Language is slim to none.  
So he goes for simple. He cleans the tanks and saves Rafael’s for last like always. When he gets to it he glances at the Do Not Tap on Glass sign, then gives a soft knock.

Nothing.

He hesitates before trying it again, this time louder. Nothing again. Just as he was about to give up a brush of movement caught his eye.  
It was its fin, and what an imposing fucker that was. The end of it fans out wide and brushes against the glass right in front of Sonny’s face. He reared back in instinct, then pressed close again. The fin floated away to reveal long tail decorated with shimmering green and blue scales that caught in the light. 

For a moment only the tail was visible from the cave but slowly the rest of it began to emerge. First, an arm, distinctly human save from the glimmer of green and blue scales peppered across the shoulders. Then a head on a long, lean neck. Sonny was almost too fascinated by the lack of gills to take stock of its face until it was inches in front of him.

Inches of _glass_ , he hastily reminds himself as the creature bores into him with black eyes. _All_ black eyes. There isn’t a hint of white in them, only flickers of green when the light hits just right. 

His mouth is pinky and fleshy like a human’s, but Sonny can make out two twin bulges were the outline of fangs parts them slightly. His skin is surprisingly tan, with other flecks of green and blue shimmering across it and giving the illusion that he’s still in motion.  
But he’s not in motion. He’s floating there in front of him, and Sonny suddenly can’t remember why he thought this would be a good idea.  
Awkwardly, he raises his hand and waves. Hi.

The creature tilts his head. Then, the sound of diamonds on stone rings out again. _Laughter_ , Sonny thinks with a bewildered smile of his own.  
He waves again, this time earnestly. Rafael tilts his head the other way and his lips part, showing two blunt fangs and twins rows of surprisingly human teeth. He lifts a hand, fingers tipped by sharp claws, and mimics the motion back. Hi.

Sonny is practically giddy. Rafael titters and clicks, hand still waving. Sonny lifts his hands up and, experimentally, signs _My name is Sonny_.  
Rafael stops waving and huffs, blowing water bubbles against the glass. He doesn’t understand what Sonny is doing, which is predictable. Still giddy from this breakthrough, he breathes against the glass and draws his name in the fog. Then, thinking better of it starts over and draws it backward.  
It’s a hail mary, and he’s not really expecting it to work, but there’s nothing else to call the look on Rafael’s face beside understanding. He nods once.  
“You understand,” he breathes.

The sound of his own voice startles himself. It’s raspy and foreign, doesn’t even really sound like him, not really. He ignores them in favor of seizing the opportunity to speak.

“You understand me. My name is Sonny.” 

Rafael floats backward and whips his impressive fin at the glass again before swimming back. He nods again.  
Sonny is buzzing with excitement.

“No one mentioned you could understand English,” he says all in a breath. His throat hurts from disuse but he presses through it. “This is amazing. You’re amazing.”

Rafael must not be impressed by his praises because he doesn’t give any indication he’s listening. He’s not even looking at Sonny. Instead, he’s staring at the center of his chest. Sonny looks down at the Saint Dominic medal around its chest. His Nonna had given it to him just before she passed. It’s the most prized thing he owned, but on the surface, it’s nothing more than faux silver, shiny thing. 

He holds it up and grins. “You like shiny things, huh? Just like a real fish?”

Rafael scowls and swims back to slap his fin against the glass again. Sonny jumps, but it doesn’t wipe the grin off his face.

“Okay, that’s not a fish move.” He dangles the medal in front of himself and waits for Rafael to swim back to the glass. He watches black eyes track it, then slide up to his face. “You’re not a fish at all.”

Rafael huff-bubbles again, as if to say _Duh_.  
No, not a fish move at all.

“I saw what you did the other day, to that jerk,” he says. Rafael tilts his head like he doesn’t understand, but that doesn’t work because Sonny now knows he understands everything perfectly. “Why did you do that? Why did you help me?”

Rafael shrugs and pushes away from the glass again. His nail narrowly misses slapping against the glass again. He makes a lap around the tank that takes several seconds. When he comes back he’s holding a dead fish in his claws.

Sonny flinches back as Rafael rips into it head first. He doesn’t take its eyes off of Sonny, or the medal, as he chews. Sonny is fascinated by the way the blood mixes in with the water and swirls around Rafael’s black eyes. Beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Without thinking, he says, “You’re beautiful.”

Rafael drops the fish and seems to spasm from head to toe. He slaps his fin against the glass again. At first, Sonny thinks he’s offended him, but before he can apologize he notices the streak of pink dancing across green scales. He’s embarrassed. 

Sonny laughs again. Rafael scowls and throws the half-eaten fish at his face, which only makes him laugh harder. When he’s calmed down Rafael is skulking around him, brow pinched in agitation.

“I’m sorry,” Sonny says between gasps. “I am, but it’s true. There’s nothing like you.”

He peers around the bloodied glass to see Rafael eyeing him curiously. Then, he turns and swims away into the rock cave. Disappointment sinks into his chest until it catches those eyes looking at him. Narrowed and assessing, but curious still. 

Sonny grins and lets his medal fall back against his chest. His watch tells him he’s spent more time with Rafael than he should have and that his shift will be ending soon. With one last wave, he turns his heels and goes back to his mop. On a whim, he turns back around and freezes at what he says.  
One clawed hand, waving back.

**— — — — —**

It becomes something of a ritual after that. Every night after the display floor closes Sonny does all his cleaning, then he’ll sit in front of Rafael’s tank and talk. 

He talks about his parents and his sisters. He talks about his glory days on the force and the crazy stories that still make him laugh. Sometimes he talks about Rafael and how magnificent everyone says he is, or the environmental group that’s rallying for his freedom. One time he asked if there were more like him out there, and Rafael has solemnly shaken his head no.

Sonny hasn’t talked just to talk since Cole, and it feels good. He talks to Rafael about his job and his past life as a detective and the therapy his mother begged him to go to. Rafael will hover in front of the tank and watch his medal, or trace his face, or swim around the tank—but never too far that he can’t hear. Sometimes he thinks Rafael isn’t listening to him at all, so he’ll throw in a comment about fish or how his scales look in the light and will laugh when Rafael slaps the tank and bristles.

The late night chats start to unwind the constant knot of tension between his shoulder blades. In all honesty, he never realized how lonely he was until he started talking to Rafael.

When he stops to consider it, he thinks maybe Rafael was lonely, too.

Tonight is different from the others. Earlier in the day, a car had backfired while he was at the store. His vision had tunneled, his breath caught in his throat. A kind old woman in the line put a gentle hand on his arm to ask him if he was okay and he almost clocked her. It had been embarrassing. The moment he could feel the solid ground beneath him again he’d bolted out there, groceries damned. 

“I don’t think I can go back to that store again,” he says. Rafael’s tail flicking is the only indication that he’s listening. “I’m pretty sure the cashier thought I was possessed.”

He sighs and scrubs a hand across his face. The sound of the filter bubbling and the quiet waves made by Rafael’s tail are the only sounds in the room. Usually, it’s melodic. Tonight it’s maddening.

“Sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore, Raf. My Ma, my friends, my sisters… they mean well, I know that, but—god. They talk about me like I’m a ghost like I’m not really there. They treat me like I’m this fragile thing that’ll break at any moment. Fuck, I ain’t exactly doing much to prove them wrong, am I?”

He rests his forehead against the cool glass and inhales shakily. “It sucks, you know? It fucking sucks. I think I’m getting better then… who even am I anymore.” 

A thud against the glass makes him lift his head. Rafael’s face is pressed almost completely against the glass. Large black eyes bore into his own, soft and inquisitive. He places his hand against the glass as drags it down. If Sonny were a romantic, he might say Rafael wanted to stroke his face.  
Then Rafael makes a sound he’s never heard before. A soft hissing. Sonny is suddenly grateful he turns the tank’s internal speaker again when he sees Rafael even though he’s never had a reason to before. The edge of Rafael’s forked, tongue licks against his teeth as he draws it out. Sonny stands up straighter and places his own hands against the glass. 

He’s trying to say something.

“What?” He asks. “What is it?”

The hissing sound continues. Rafael’s brown starts to knit with something like frustration as he tries to get it out. Sonny holds his breath.  
“ _Ssss_ ,” Rafael hisses, no _says_ between his teeth. “ _Ssss_.”

“Are you trying to say my name?” He whispers.

Rafael nods earnestly and does it again. “ _Ssss_.”

Sonny’s heart goes filled to bursting right then and there. He huffs out a laugh and blinks back tears. Rafael doesn’t just listen to him, he understands him. 

“Oh,” Sonny says, deep and watery.

Seemingly satisfied that Sonny understands, Rafael goes silent again. Giant black eyes flicker from his face to the medal on his chest, to his hand, and then back to his face. If Sonny could put a name to the look, he would call it longing.

“Rafael,” he says because right then it sounds like the right thing to say. Rafael titters like it was.

An emotion wells up inside him then, foreign but unmistakable. Feeling bold, he gives a voice to it. “I wish I could touch you. Would you feel as beautiful as you look?”

Rafael huffs and makes a deep, mournful noise he’s never heard before it. Longing. 

“ _Ssss_ ,” he says with that same mournful noise.

Sonny closes his eyes and breathes. When he opens them his eyes find their way to the ladder, and then the very top of Rafael’s tank. High and just barely out of reach, but not impossible.

He places his hand against the glass right over Rafael’s own. Would his skin feel soft, or rough from those dazzling scales? Would his claws hurt  


**— — — — —**

When he was sixteen, Sonny snuck out of the house to see Abigail Sawchuk. He was sixteen and horny out of his mind, and she smelled nice and brushed against him when they worked together in chemistry. So when she asked him to come over at ten after her parents went out for their weekly date night it didn’t matter than his curfew was. He was young and stupid and in love, and he was going to make it happen.

He’s not that young anymore, but he’s just as stupid, and maybe he does love Rafael. Maybe he’s _in love_ with Rafael.

That’s why he does what he does.

That’s why after he mops the floors and cleans the bathrooms and wipes down the tanks, all under the watchful gaze of Rafael, he climbs the exposed beams behind the tanks. They’re the only things on the newly renovated display floor that aren’t up to code. During the week when the construction crew isn’t working on them, Amanda has them covered with thick curtains. She showed Sonny how to open and close them as needed, and now he’s almost at the top and holy shit, this is a bad idea.

The beams creak and groan under his weight. They’re _definitely_ not up to code. By the time he reaches the solid top of the tank he’s shaking.  
He takes time to remove his shoes and roll his work pants up. He can’t swim, but he’s seen the kind of waves Rafael’s tail can make. With a deep breath, he perches on the flat edge of the tanka and pushes the panel button to open the lid. The filter disturbs the water and pushes it to dance at the edge near the edge and tickle his fingers. Sonny holds his breath and waits

The top of Rafael’s head breaches the surface of the water and he exhales shakily. Without the lift of water, his dark hair falls slick across his shoulders where green and blue scales highlight his skin. His eyes are just as big, just as black and intense, as they look between layers of glass, but they take his breath away all the same. When he spreads pink lips to smile Sonny can count every razor-sharp tooth.  
He lifts his hand to wave. _Hi_.

Rafael lifts and barely lifts a clawed hand out of the water, mimicking the gesture. _Hello_.

Sonny laughs, feeling giddy and almost out of control. Rafael gives his tittering laugh back, excitement and amusement evident in the pull of his lips and the shimmy of his shoulders.

Rafael ducks so that only his eyes are above the water and slowly swims over. Sonny holds his breath when Rafael grabs his thighs and uses them for purchase to lift himself out of the water. The weight against his thighs is cold and solid. Rafael has never felt more real.  
“You really are beautiful,” Sonny whispers even though it’s just the two of them.

Instead of huffing and throwing a tantrum, Rafael purrs. Outright purrs and Sonny is giggling maddeningly all over again.

Shaking off some of his unbridled excitement, he says, “Oh! I brought you something.”

He digs into his pocket and pulls out three pieces of sushi from his lunch. Rafael eyes it is suspiciously. Sonny lifts it closer for him to sniff it, and then his eyes widen and he dives right into Sonny’s hand. 

“I’ve seen the way you look at that bioengineered shit they feed you, so I thought I’d save you some of my lunch,” he explains. “Working here’s kind of ruined my appetite for fish anyway.”

A nip at his palm causes him to yank his hand back from Rafael’s mouth. He looks down to see a tiny pool of blood dripping into bits of rice and staining it red. It doesn’t hurt, but he winces all the same. Rafael looks up at him with wide eyes and makes a mournful noise.  
Sonny shakes his head. “No, no, it’s okay. I get it. Trader Joe’s sushi is the bomb, after all.”

Rafael doesn’t look placated in the slightest. He tightens his grip on his thigh with one hand and grabs Sonny’s bleeding one with his other. He makes a sound between a coo and a purr before sticking his tongue out to lick the blood there.

The sensation is scratchy, but not unpleasant. Not unpleasant at all, given how Sonny’s beginning to react to it. It’s another reminder in a line of many of how long it’s been since he’s with someone. Rafael bit him and made him bleed and all Sonny can think of it feeling those scales against his skin.  
Once satisfied with his work, Rafael moves from licking his palm to his fingers. There’s no more sushi left on them, so there’s no other reason for him to do it except—

He’s looking at Sonny now, lids heavy over black eyes. He sucks Sonny’s fingers into his mouth and curls his long, forked tongue around the pointer. Sonny gives a full body shiver and opens his legs wider to accommodate his filling cock, jostling Rafael slightly.  
“Fuck,” he whispers. “ _Fuck_.”

This really is the most fucked things he’s ever done, but he’s already here and doing it, so he only hesitates a second before pulling his hand back so he can grab Rafael’s face in his hands and kiss him.

Rafael makes a startled noise but quickly melts into the kiss. He’s noisy and enthusiastic, more licking into Sonny’s mouth than kissing him. Behind him, his fin slaps the surface of the water excitedly. When his tongue goes too far down Sonny’s throat he’s forced to pull away.  
Rafael makes a frustrated noise. Sonny kisses the frown off his face.

“No, no,” he reprimands softly. “You gotta slow down. You gotta do it like this, okay?”

He kisses him again and makes a point of going slow. Rafael’s fin slaps the water again before going still. The new angle and softness must work for him because Rafael moans and slips into it easily. His tongue curls around Sonny’s, and that shouldn’t be as hot as it is.

Rafael starts to move again, bumping the length of his body against where Sonny has grown increasingly hard. Sonny moans and Rafael answers with one of his own, deeper than he’s ever heard.

When the kiss breaks this time it’s of Rafael’s doing. Sonny whines in protest until he notices Rafael pawing at his pants incessantly.

Eyeing on those impressive—and sharp—claws, Sonny gently pushes his hands away. “Wait, wait. Let me—”

With shaking hands he shimmies his pants and underwear down just far enough to let his cock spring free. He allows himself a moment to feel ridiculous sitting here at the top of a giant tank with his cock out in front of a merman, hard out of his mind—before he doesn’t feel anything at all but Rafael’s tongue lapping eagerly at his cock.

He groans grips Rafael's shoulders. The skin is not as soft as he’d imagined, but the rough tug of scales against his callouses only adds to the heat pooling in his stomach. He wants to touch everywhere; he wants to bring Rafael the same kind of pressure, but he—god, he doesn’t even know where to even touch a merman to—

Rafael doesn’t seem to mind. He makes the same loud, slurping noises and heady moans of pleasure he did eating sushi out of his Sonny’s hand. Like he’s getting as much pleasure out of this as Sonny. It’s the hottest thing he’s ever witnessed, and that’s when he knows he won’t last.

The thrill of blunt of fangs barely grazing his cock is what tips him over. His pleasure-addled brain is too slow to warn Rafael before he shoots in his mouth. He comes with a choked off cry that has him half-folded in half. Rafael rears back too late and gets a shot in the face, right over the now pinkish tint of his scaly green cheeks. 

Blushing and cursing, Sonny lifts the end of his shirt and begins to frantically wipe at his face. “Shit, shit, shit! I’m sorry, fuck, I’m so sorry.”  
Rafael does his tittering laugh again. He pulls away from Sonny’s reach and licks the rest of from his face, maintaining eye contact the entire time. There’s nothing left in Sonny to give him, but his hips cant up like he might anyway.

He pulls Rafael back into his space and hooks his arms underneath Rafael’s own. Getting the idea, Rafael let’s go of his thighs and wraps them around his neck and lets Sonny hold his weight.

Sonny buries his nose in Rafael’s neck and kisses it, tasting the water there. Rafael shivers and coos, happy and content.

“How are you real?” Sonny whispers into his skin. “How can you possibly be real?”

“ _Ssss_ ,” Rafael answers in what he’s decided is an attempt at his name. “ _Ssss_.” 

“I’m going to get you out of here,” Sonny whispers and is surprised to find he means it. He is. He _will_. 

Rafael sighs and tightens his grip on Sonny’s neck. Sonny feels something soft press against his neck, then his clothed shoulder. Then Rafael unwraps an arm from his neck and drags it down his chest. His claw catches on the Saint Dominic medal and stays there.

Sonny pulls back and grins at him. “You’re only using me to get to this, aren’t you?”

Rafael shrugs and huffs, smirking. The _Oh, definitely_ is clear.

Sonny laughs, heart full. Without letting go of Rafael he takes the necklace off and slips it over Rafael’s head. The silver medal looks picturesque against the decorated green and blue scales of his dark skin. Like he was meant to wear it. Like Sonny was meant to give it to him.  
Rafael fondles the medal between his claws and makes a soft, inquisitive sound.

“He doesn’t protect much, but he always makes me feel safe. I want you to feel that, too,” he explains.

Rafael’s fin hits the water and sends droplets sprinkling down over them. He shimmies again, delight evident in his smile and the cooing, purring sounds he makes. He presses his lips against Sonny’s again, and it’s still too much tongue and teeth, but it’s the most perfect thing Sonny’s ever experienced on God’s green earth.

**— — — — —**

“Martha! Martha, you see that?”

“What, Dave?”

“The thing! The mermaid’s got something!”

“It’s a mer _man_ , honey.”

“Mermaid, merman, whatever! Is that--is it wearing a necklace?”

“Don’t be silly. It’s probably a tracking device or something.”

“Why would they need to track the mermaid _inside_ the building?”

“Mer _man_ , and I don’t know! Oh great, Stacy’s drinking the touch tank water again. Can you go be a parent instead of wondering about merman jewelry?”

“Jesus Christ, _fine_.”

 _Of course_ the merman isn’t wearing a necklace, Martha tells herself. But if she thought about too long, she might have thought the thing was laughing at her.


End file.
